floralartmall.com


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Raewyn Elphick  lives in Matamata in the heart of farming and racehorse country in the North Island of New Zealand. She owns and operates Matamata Floral Studios with her husband David. It was here we noticed her shop window  and had to stop. It looked like a real poodle staring back at us but it was made with moss...we had to meet the creator!

Every three years Raewyn works with her talented friend and floral artist Gaylene Lee to help many in the community create the Matamata Festival of Flowers. It is a non-commercial event and all profits go back into the community.

The theme was "Country Classics". It was for this festival that Raewyn and Gaylene  created these masterpieces, they share with you .


 

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Try making a dog, rabbit and people as floral objects, with Matamata Florist Raewyn Elphick and Floral Artist, Gaylene Lee. Each year the three towns of Matamata, Te Aroha and Morrinsville take a turn to produce the festival of flowers. Extensive photo coverage of some of these is available on CD. Check out what is currently in stock here

Raewyn  has made many animal shapes and her advice is," Study the shape." If you have a toy, undress it to get the right shape." If you don't have a toy to start with, get a pattern book of toys. A large range of pattern books is available by clicking  here and this will give you the shapes you will need. You can make your pattern bigger, smaller, or  adapt by drawing the shapes to the size you need, freehand onto paper. 
Once you have a paper pattern prepared, now you have to cut those shapes out of wire netting. Wire cutters are very helpful for this! Then put the pieces together joining the sections with florists' wire until you have a firm, solid  three dimensional shape. Take time over this as it will be too late to correct anything later! As Raewyn said, "If the base is right, the animal will turn out right".
Now you are happy with the base, it's time to bring out the paper mâche. You can buy paper mâche already prepared OR you can do it the messy way!  Some wallpaper paste and some newspaper ripped up into 1" wide strips, is all you need. Dip the strips into the bucket of glue, wipe of the excess between your fingers and wrap onto the frame...wonderfully messy, gooey and creative! After each layer, leave to  dry for 24 hours and then add the next layer. Build up the layers until you feel your animal is sturdy!
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    Now is the time, with the paper mâche dry, to decide on the texture for your animal.
    For the Rabbit, Raewyn and Gaylene  hot glued 'toetoe' flowers onto the base,  These are a native of New Zealand and very similar to Pampas grass flowers which grow in other parts of the world. The flowers are like huge feathers, in creams and shades of pink and green
    For the poodles they used moss, bought in wholesale to the florist shop, or you can collect it from  trees in forests and swamps.

    For the people in the photo on the left they used bark peeled from the tree trunks of the paper birch and gum tree.
    As each piece was glued on it covered the glue of the last piece so an overall textured coat was achieved.
    Now you add the finishing touches that make this a masterpiece! The poodles snout is papyrus rather than toetoe, the nose and eyes are bought from a toy shop, the eyelashes are wool and the tongue is pink felt. This is when your observation of the real animal will come into play as the more you see and can relate back to the plant world, the more realistic your floral design will be.
    The rabbit had clothes made that were appropriate and accessories added such as the clock, the gloves, the chain and the whiskers.

    		Raewyn and Gaylene don't just make animals however and they don't just use dried plant material! 
    One of their outstanding and much talked about talents is to create brides, and bridesmaids with fresh flower gowns.
    As you can see from the  photo on the left, they first dress a mannequin with a bodice and appropriate upper clothing. In this case it is the bride. Then dozens of blocks of floral foam are well soaked, encased in gladwrap (plastic  film) to hold in the moisture and then wire netting . Finally they are all joined together in a massive structure encompassing all the lower torso of the model. Now the long, long process begins! A hole is poked in the Gladwrap and each flower individually cut to a short stem and inserted
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    And this is the result! A floral bouquet in her hand, a gown of white chrysanthemums and a circlet of flowers in her hair, this bride is a show stopper! 
    Her stunning bridesmaid wearing a similar gown with gold chryanthemums and featuring the  pet poodles!

    Learn how to make a sphagnum moss bear with full instructions with Paula Pryle in her fabulous book, "Festive Flowers" Mr Bear is featured in her chapter in "bedside flowers" in this book which features arrangements for every occasion. For pricing, and ordering details click here    		 Soft Toys to Sew
                        by Sheila McGraw
    This book contains the "typical" cuddlies that many toy books have (teddy bear, puppy dog), but also some great unusual critters (including a buzzard, a funny-not-scary monster, an alligator, and a  fish) that other books tend to overlook. The instructions are  straightforward and the patterns mostly need to be enlarged. A photocopier makes this easy! A great resource to try out Raewyn's and Gaylene's techniques.
    For pricing, and ordering details click here